ToKCast

Ep 262: David Deutsch's "The Fabric of Reality" Chapter 13 "The Four Strands" Part 3 May 4, 2026 3811 This episode is heavily focussed on Dawkin's "Selfish Gene" explanation of Darwin's evolution by natural selection. Obviously there are readings from the relevant part of this chapter from The Fabric of Reality but I augment that with sections from "The Selfish Gene" itself as well as "The Beginning of Infinity" as well as a larger portion of me providing additional unpacking and exposition.

Ep 261: Objective Morality II Apr 23, 2026 2338 Do not destroy the means of error correction. A deep unification of knowledge akin to unifying quantum theory with computation to create the theory of quantum computation. David Deutsch will be known for not merely forging the basis of quantum computing but also a new basis for morality and epistemology. I explain much of that here. "What should we do next?" is a question with an answer that is ri

Ep 260: I don't believe it! Apr 5, 2026 3991 Response to a question about my discussion with @drpeterboghossian here: https://youtu.be/72vhtT0pFmA?si=hAx1kPho4DkLkBFN This is yet another way of coming at a critique around the concept of "belief" or those who profess to "believe" and so on using Deutsch's approach that knowledge is "information with causal power". I explore that for around the first 40 mins. If you're in a hurry, skip to th

Ep 259: Reaction to Michael Levin Part 3: Bait and Switch, Podcastistan and Surprising(?) algorithms. Mar 11, 2026 3575 In this, the third and final part of a series, I break down some work Michael Levin has done with sorting algorithms. That seems very dry until you hear his claim that these algorithms that are well known and have been studied for decades exhibit extremely unusual behaviour never before spotted because "no one ever bothered to look". This part of the interview is between Ferris and Levin is referr

Ep 258: Reaction to Michael Levin, Part 2: Bioelectricity, Consciousness and Knowing Feb 16, 2026 5937 This is the second in a multipart series where I react to some interviews with ‪@drmichaellevin‬ a biologist who, among other things, specialises in bioelectricity. His research can be found here: https://www.drmichaellevin.org and his "explainer articles" for his own professional papers here: https://thoughtforms.life . In this episode I mention the discussion he had with ‪@timferriss‬ which is f

Ep 257: Reaction to Michael Levin, Part 1: Categories and Continuums. Feb 9, 2026 4084 This is the first in a multipart series where I react to some interviews with @drmichaellevin - a biologist who, among other things, specialises in bioelectricity. His research can be found here: https://www.drmichaellevin.org/publications/ and his "explainer articles" for his own professional papers here: https://thoughtforms.life . Although in this first episode I mention the discussion he had

Ep 256: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 13 ”The Four Strands” Part 2 Jan 30, 2026 4176 Comparing Kuhn and Popper on Quantum Theory: Here we go deeper into the differences between Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn's account of how science moves from one theory to another. David applies the theory set out in part 1 of this chapter to the specific case of quantum theory. Did social forces have a major impact on whether quantum theory was adopted as Kuhn would have it, or were rational factor

Ep 255: Does this research explain how LLMs work? Jan 14, 2026 4965 I take a look at these three papers: 1. https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2512.22471 2. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.23752 3. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22473 Collectively titled "The Bayesian Attention Trilogy" along with some other material - in particular an interview with one of the authors "Vishal Misra" - https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/faculty-staff/directory/vishal-misra For those familiar with

Ep 254: Australia: The Land of Bans. (Social Media prohibited for under-16s. Analysis of the arguments "for".) Dec 25, 2025 5588 This is effectively part 3 in a series of responses to the Prime Minister of Australia about censorship, legislation, policy, philosophy, Bondi and Social Media. The Prime Minister attempted to explain, as best he could, the reasons for banning under-16 year olds from certain social media platforms. I remark on an interview he conducted and make some broader remarks in conclusion to a short series

Ep 253: Further Comments on the Bondi Massacre. Dec 22, 2025 2118 Here I remark on comments made by Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Education Minister Jason Clare and then make some broader points about the recent tragedy on Bondi Beach. This is part 2 of a response to the Prime Minister of Australia and others.

Ep 252: Response to the Prime Minister of Australia Dec 19, 2025 3905 A reaction "episode" where I make some remarks about a speech by Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, in the wake of the Bondi Beach Massacre by Islamists terrorists who attacked Jews at a Hanukkah celebration on 14 December, 2025

Ep 251: OK Doomer! Dec 11, 2025 1868 This is a reproduction of a talk I gave to some trainee surgeons in Sydney who, among other things, were learning about AI as it was affecting their own field. It is, in a sense, a summary of many of the points I have been making recently on this channel with respect to AI and pessimism around it.

Ep 250: The Farthest Reaches - Audiobook Nov 12, 2025 15569 The Farthest Reaches is a book about "Explanatory Universality". Explanatory Universality is a concept introduced by physicist and philosopher David Deutsch in his book "The Beginning of Infinity". Links, as mentioned in the audiobook can be found in the ebook available for free here: https://www.bretthall.org/the-farthest-reaches.html This present work follows the logic of that concept as it app

Ep 249: The Farthest Reaches Part 4 and Conclusion Oct 17, 2025 4335 Chapters and Timestamps 00:06 Chapter 13: Explanatory Universality, Hangups and Sexuality 08:07 Chapter 14: The Woke Left and the Woke Right 15:38 Chapter 15: Universality and Optimism 25:04 Chapter 16: Universality and Artificial Intelligences 35:54 Chapter 17: Universality, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Reach 42:44: Chapter 18: Summary and Conclusions

Ep 248: AI and Philosophy of Science Oct 13, 2025 5139 This is the extended "director's cut" of a talk delivered for "RatFest 2025" (next year to be "Conjecture Con"). This also serves as a supplement to my "Doom Debates" interview which can be found here: https://youtu.be/koubXR0YL4A?si=483M6SPOKwbQYmzb It is simply assumed some version of "Bayesian reasoning" is how AI will "create" knowledge. This misconception permeates the https://ai-2027.com pap

Ep 247: The Farthest Reaches Part 3 Sep 22, 2025 2839 Chapters and Timestamps 00:07 Chapter 10 Explanatory Universality and Ethnicity 24:51 Chapter 11 Explanatory Universality and Multiculturalism 37:47 Chapter 12 Explanatory Universality and Mental Illness.

Ep 246: The Farthest Reaches Part 2 Sep 16, 2025 3386 Chapters and Timestamps: 00:06 Chapter 5 Explanatory Universality, Psychology and IQ 03:30 Chapter 6 Explanatory Universality and Adopting Culture 11:47 Chapter 7: Explanatory Universality and IQ Part 2 17:10 Chapter 8 Explanatory Universality and the “trans” issue. 27:35 Chapter 9: Explanatory Universality and Immigration

Ep 245: The Farthest Reaches (Part 1) Sep 12, 2025 2683 Chapters 1 to 4 of a multi-chapter series about the reach of what I argue is one of the most important lessons to learn in order to solve many pressing problems: explanatory universality. This podcast provides an explanation that "explanatory universality" is an idea of such depth it may have among the greatest reach of any idea. Chapters: 00:12 Chapter 1 - Universality and Reach 09:09 Chapter 2 -

Ep 244: Deep learning is not "inductive". Aug 22, 2025 1355 We are told by people working in the field, researchers and those who publish academic papers on the topic that artificial intelligence or deep learning or LLMs or Machine Learning or Recurrent Neural Networks - call them what you like - employ some form of inductive reasoning. But do they? What is inductive reasoning? What is deductive or adductive for that matter? Is "new physics" or other new s

Ep 243: In praise of ignorance - the podcast. With Liberty Fitz-Claridge Jul 21, 2025 5782 This episode is a reading of and reflection upon more writing by David Deutsch - an article you can find at https://takingchildrenseriously.com/in-praise-of-ignorance/ Joining me is philosopher and language educator Liberty Fitz-Claridge. Liberty holds Master Degrees in both Philosophy and Applied Linguistics and English Language teaching, as well as a Bachelors in The Philosophy of Science. As we

Ep 242: Is religion worth preserving? Jul 11, 2025 1056 Woke is a rejection of the truth, the good, the beautiful. Is the best response a return to traditional religion? Are some dogmas worth defending?

Ep 241: AI 2027 Reaction Part 5: Summary and Conclusions May 29, 2025 2538 A summary of some arguments made in the previous 4 parts, and a conclusion to my evaluation of https://ai-2027.com I refer to Daniel Kokotajlo's paper which contained an earlier set of predictions made in 2021 about the 5 years leading to 2026 which is found here https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6Xgy6CAf2jqHhynHL/what-2026-looks-like Note that Part 4 is here: https://youtu.be/C3jDjuSLBv0 Part 3 is

Ep 240: AI 2027 Reaction Part 4 May 22, 2025 1321 Note that Part 3 is episode 239 or can be found here: https://youtu.be/7P-UlHiTins Part 2 is here: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

Ep 239: AI 2027 Reaction Part 3 May 21, 2025 2779 Episode 238 contains Part 2 of this podcast and Episode 237 is Part 1. Also all parts are available on Youtube as almost always. Eg here for part 2: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ I am reacting to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

Ep 238: AI 2027 Reaction Part 2 May 20, 2025 2895 Note that Part 1 is found in Episode 237 or can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htOvH12T7mU

Ep 237: AI 2027 Reaction. Part 1 May 16, 2025 3171 I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here: • 2027 Intelligence Explosion: Month-by... Youtube version of this podcast is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ

Ep 236: Max Velthoven, legal science, AI and epistemology. Apr 25, 2025 4177 Max is a tax lawyer who is applying Popperian epistemology to legal science and issues in AI. Links to some more of his work, and the slides to accompany part of this video are below. Slides for Max's talk(s): https://www.bretthall.org/popper-and-legal-science.html Max’s journal article on AI with Eric Marcus (in NLFiscaal TaxTech): NLFiscaal | Problems in AI, their roots in philosophy, and impli

Ep 235: The Simulation Hypothesis Apr 9, 2025 6615 This is a "megasode" combining two episodes from Youtube all about the Simulation Hypothesis. In the first part I provide the philosophical basis for the simulation hypothesis as explained especially by Nick Bostrom and compare it to other "ultimate" explanations of reality. In part 2 I discuss and evaluate the arguments made by Scott Adams and Joe Rogan who endorse some version of Bostrom's argum

Ep 234: On the Evolution of Reason Mar 4, 2025 2552 I recently had the opportunity to participate in "Spectrum Street Epistemology" with @drpeterboghossian and a number of others including @destiny . This episode was inspired by both that event and the many other conversations I had with Peter, Reid, David, Evan, Mia and Travis across the days I spent in Florida with those excellent people engaged in the important work of defending the Enlighte

Ep 233: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 13 ”The Four Strands" Part 1 Feb 20, 2025 4256 The first part of my discussion of the differing visions of science and how scientific knowledge "grows" (or not) according to Thomas Kuhn vs Karl Popper as outlined in this chapter of "The Beginning of Infinity". Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" explains the concept of a "paradigm" and "paradigm shifts" comparing "revolutionary" and "normal" periods of science. Kuhn's work remains

Ep 232: Karl Popper's "The Myth of the Framework" Sections IV to VI. "The Critical Method": deep dive Feb 5, 2025 4966 The second in the series on "The Myth of the Framework" paper. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction with some reflections on Joe Rogan and Gad Saad 05:14 Section IVa reading - on “Confrontations” 06:32 Section IVa reflection 09:48 Section IVb reading 10:17 Section IVb reflection 12:14 Section IVc reading - tolerance and respect 13:26 Section IV c reflection on Herodotus and tolerance 15:08 Section IV d

Ep 231: Karl Popper's "The Myth of the Framework" Sections I to III. Discussing discussions: deep dive Jan 25, 2025 5761 I take another deep dive into a deeply insightful and original lecture by Karl Popper: The Myth of the Framework. In this first part (of 4) I spend most of the episode unpacking our motivations, Popper's own thoughts on his success in combating bad ideologies and the purposes of discussion. Indeed this piece can be considered an instruction manual for discussions: how to have them and why. Below:

Ep 230: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 12 ”Time Travel” Part 3 Jan 20, 2025 5597 The best part! If you missed the others, don't miss this one. All four strands come together to explain the possibility of time travel and the intrigue that arises when considering travelling to "your" past or future to visit "yourself". Rough timestamps follow: 00:00 introduction and the significance of virtual reality 04:03 Physically possible renderings and resolving paradoxes 07:30 what does V

Ep 229: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 12 ”TimeTravel” Part 2 Jan 17, 2025 3171 An outside broadcast as you will hear. Image generation and virtual reality provide a window on the physics of time travel. Why is that? And what about all those time travel paradoxes? The resolution to all is found herein.

Ep 228: Knowledge Beyond Belief Dec 30, 2024 3330 An assortment of topics looking forward to 2025. Timestamps: 00:00 Truth is indispensable 04:06 The “search for truth” is error correction 08:11 Remarks on selflessness and personhood. How can we square the two? 09:14 Decisions and free will and creativity 10:46 Truth and the two senses of “believe”. 13:30 Belief, epistemology and psychology 17:16 “Popperian” knowing. 18:07 Newtonian Gravity I 2

Ep 227: "What is Capitalism?" - an encounter between Objectivism and Critical Rationalism. Dec 15, 2024 6659 Live from Sydney, Yaron Brook and Nikos Sotirakopoulos join me on stage to discuss capitalism, liberty, personhood, energy policy, Israel and antisemitism and much more. Rough timestamps are here: 00:00 Brett’s welcome and introduction 02:32 Nikos on “What is Capitalism?” 04:21 Yaron on “What is Capitalism?” 07:33 Brett on the relationship between personhood and capitalism. 10:02 Nikos on why prog

Ep 226: Realism and the purposes of philosophy. Dec 12, 2024 8218 I discuss the point of philosophy and how "concrete" the work of Karl Popper and David Deutsch are in marshalling examples taken directly from science in order to illustrate how philosophy solves problems in other areas. Then I have some lengthy remarks on some recent criticism of Popper and Deutsch which is found here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-152605209

Ep 225: Livestream from November 27, 2024 Nov 28, 2024 6979 A long "ask me anything" episode live and off the cuff. Apologies for the audio quality.

Ep 224: Shapes, Time, and Holism - by Julian Barbour Nov 20, 2024 6830 Julian Barbour is an independent British Physicist and the author of technical and popular books including the best selling "The End of Time" and most recently "The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time". In this lecture, Julian shows just how interesting Newtonian Mechanics can get. Can it be a fundamental theory of space, time and physical reality? This is a tour de force of the history of ideas in

Ep 223: The Deutsch Files IV (ToKCast version) Oct 17, 2024 5281 After a short introduction by me, the remainder of this episode is a reproduction of "The Deutsch Files IV" the latest in a series of conversations between myself, Naval Ravikant and David Deutsch about a wide variety of topics including, and sometimes going far beyond the contents of "The Fabric of Reality", "The Beginning of Infinity" and Constructor Theory. Go to https://nav.al to access all th

Ep 222: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 12 ”TimeTravel” Part 1 Oct 15, 2024 3086 Is time travel into the past and the future possible? What is time dilation? Subjective and objective senses of "time travel". David Deutsch's own documentary on Time Travel from the BBB (192) https://youtu.be/C6_gxoLwrWw?si=8vw8cwbP49XkY6e8

Ep 221: Do Not Destroy The Means of Error Correction Sep 27, 2024 1534 Here I present a "positive vision" of the kind I complained was absent in the episode right before this ("Criticism is never enough"). Here I am riffing off a line which contains a deep truth out of the Beginning of Infinity where Socrates is speaking with the god Hermes. In that passage David links a moral injunction "Do not" to an epistemological concept (error). From this stepping stone I explo

Ep 220: Criticism is never enough Sep 25, 2024 2354 Another response episode. This time to Douglas Murray and Jordan Peterson. Douglas and Jordan are seeking a way to construct a positive vision for society, but they seem at a loss for what in fundamental terms, this might include. Part 1 of 2.

Ep 219: Response to Peter Boghossian Part 3, Appendix Sep 24, 2024 1458 Parts 1 and 2 were, admittedly, long. So if you could not persevere through those, this gets the major points out serving both as an appendix to tie up some loose ends and as a summary of parts 1 and 2.

Ep 218: Peter Boghossian Response PART 2 Sep 23, 2024 3763 Here I get to the part of the discussion Peter has about my own "airchat" explanation of "anyone can understand anything". I go through arguments based on the Church-Turing Principle, computational universality and how denials of explanatory universality are appeals to the supernatural and other topics.

Ep: 217 Peter Boghossian Response Part 1 Sep 22, 2024 4618 The great epistemologist, Peter Boghossian, created a video on Youtube that responded to me, in part. It's to be found in full here: https://youtu.be/5Vf-T8K0_zE?si=T2XkG8h8iNj1ZXGR This first part is largely a response to Richard Dawkins on his notion of "Middle World" and Michael Shermer's notion we are not evolutionarily capable of understanding anything.

Ep 216: Astrobiology and Cancer Sep 13, 2024 5046 Part 2 in a series about the work of researcher Charley Lineweaver. In this episode, a targeted focus on the one thing we did not discuss out of all of Charley's scientific interests in my interview with him in Ep 215: his recent work with Paul Davies on "The Atavistic Model" of Cancer. For the peer reviewed paper on The Atavistic Model by Lineweaver and Davies see: https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~cha

Ep 215: Charley Lineweaver Sep 9, 2024 4789 A conversation with physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist, polyglot and polymath - Charley Lineweaver. 00:00 - My introduction 08:57 - Charley’s fascinating early years 12:14 - From an English/History degree to physics 13:53 - Charley’s historic work on the Cosmic Microwave Background 17:34 - Methods of probing deep space 19:51 - Our accelerating universe 22:15 - Dark Matter Candidates 23:20 -

Ep 214: Resources, Wealth, Technology, Error Correction and Knowledge Creation Jul 24, 2024 5209 The title is long enough so you look for more here? ;) This one is largely, in truth about energy and what it can do for us. Across the almost 90 minutes I cover how the concepts in the title logically cohere and depend one upon the other and we take a look at "the universal constructor" and compare the possibilities for an optimistic distant future with the reality of our situation now. Fair warn

Ep 213: ToKCast in Auckland - live Jul 11, 2024 4133 This is a recording (with a brief introduction first) of a keynote address I gave to open the 2024 "Naturalistic Decision Making Association" conference. People from business, government and academia came together for 3 days to talk about how to make better decisions under pressure. It was an opportunity for me to share the work of David Deutsch and Karl Popper with everyone from people working in

Ep 212: Livestream 3, June 28 2024 Jun 28, 2024 8692 More questions, more lengthy and more verbose than ever. Enjoy, or drift of to sleep with me ;)

Ep 211: Livestream 2, June 26 2024 Jun 27, 2024 4661 Fear not! ToKCast is not becoming a pure Q&A "show". This is literally a kind of "break" for me that I find easy and I note the listeners find fun. Today's a little shorter and - here's some of the topics covered! 00:00: David Deutsch mentioned on Lex Fridman 04:15: Dennis Noble debates Richard Dawkins on the selfish gene 16:47: The goal driven life and AI 27:51 Self similarity - minds and u

Ep 210: Livestream - Question, Answer and repeat for 2+ hours Jun 25, 2024 8105 I put out a call on Twitter/@X for questions and got a deluge. Between those and more from YouTube itself - this is the result ranging over predicting the future, through to theories of learning, AGI and AI, optimism and epistemology - many of the major hits and more.

Ep 209: Rational Decision Making Jun 17, 2024 3783 Riffing on Karl Popper and David Deutsch (especially). A broad overview, covering lots of the basics of "social" or "rational" choice theory, Bayesianism (again!), misconceptions, good ideas and bad. Errors my own as always.

Ep 208: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 11 ”Time: The First Quantum Concept” Part 3 Jun 4, 2024 2340 Here we explore the distinction between classical notions of time (including spacetime physics) as approximations to how time is understood in the multiverse. How perfectly deterministic laws lead to subjective unpredictability. Consequences for free will, questions about what happened before time began (or after it ends), new discoveries since the publication of The Fabric of Reality was publishe

Ep 207: Variations on a Conjecture May 21, 2024 1607 If you are distracted by, or simply prefer a version without, the background music - you can find that here: https://youtu.be/xSbqTTs1nl0 My preferred version is here: https://youtu.be/2IneL4VpShE as there are some helpful (though not essential) visuals. This is about knowledge creation and the the commonalities between the two forms known (evolution (by natural selection) and explanatory) and t

Ep 206: Sam Kuypers (Time: The First Quantum Concept Part 3 - and more). Apr 12, 2024 6342 Sam Kuypers is a theoretical physicist who specialises in the physics of time. If you have the time, Sam can take up as much of it as you like telling you about how our ideas of time have changed…over time. As Sam will reveals: times, they are not a-changing. But there is change! Newtonian physics has a notion of time (or at least Newton himself did), Relativity as discovered by Einstein in the ea

Ep 205: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 11 ”Time: The First Quantum Concept” *Part 2* Mar 18, 2024 3196 Part 2: Time is in the instant. The instant is not in time. More on the quantum theory of time and how the "spacetime" view of time, and the flow of time are false. How time relates to the "block universe" model and how the multiverse fixes the paradoxes at the heart of our common sense (and classical physics) ideas about time - more readings from "The Fabric of Reality" chapter 11 and in addition

Ep 204: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 11 ”Time: The First Quantum Concept” Part 1 Feb 28, 2024 3600 This is really "episode 0" but not quite because we do indeed get to some readings and unpackings of the chapter. But in the overall scheme, that forms a minor part of a longer introduction to the "common sense" understanding of time and then to some relativity (of simultaneity) and reflections on the work of other physicists and popularisers. Note clips from "The Lord of the Rings" and "Spaceba

Ep 203: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 4 Feb 16, 2024 4640 Some more long introductory remarks and commentary throughout readings of the closing pages of the chapter culminating in the explanation of the "punchline" conclusion of the chapter which is: "Necessary truth is the subject matter of mathematics. It is not the reward we get for doing mathematics". This is a good exploration of fallibility, the relationship of physics to mathematics and how scienc

Ep 202: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 3 Feb 11, 2024 2726 The nature of proof and mathematics as a creative enterprise. Not all that is true can be proved as such, the high hopes of David Hilbert for placing the entirety of mathematics on a "firm foundation", the mathematical world-shattering results of Kurt Gödel which frustrated that project, a history of proof and finally Roger Penrose and whether human brains are computers in the Turing sense. And so

Ep 201: Progress: Conserving the means of Error Correction. Free Speech, Free Trade and Democracy. Dec 14, 2023 2594 Drawing on Chapter 15 "The Evolution of Culture" from "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch and then applying it to some special cases. Come and chat to me about this or anything else at https://www.getairchat.com/brett Timestamps: 00:00 Speech, Trade and Democracy 02:39 Is Democracy under attack? 07:05 Free Speech as Error Identification 09:14 Limits on Free Speech? 13:02 Case Study 1: No

Ep 200: Chiara Marletto Nov 30, 2023 5290 00:00 Introduction 08:03 Interview Begins 09:42 How Chiara found herself at the foundations of physics 15:30 How Chiara found Everett 19:13 No Special Physics is required for Observers 21:02 What is a counterfactual? How is it linked to a constructor? 29:05 What is (classical) information? How is it different to quantum information? 32:30 Quantum Information is more constrained. This makes it more

Ep 199: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 2 Oct 11, 2023 3029 The certainty of mathematics and its place in the supposed hierarchy of subjects (assumed to be above science which is itself above philosophy in turn). Some more remarks on Bayesianism and somehow ghosts and alien life.

Ep 198: Bayesianism Sep 12, 2023 5741 Everything and more one might ever want to know about the topic...that other epistemology people often talk about. The central project is to distinguish between 4 "species" of what is often called "Bayesianism" 1. Bayes' Theorem. 2. Bayesian Statistics. 3. Bayesian Reasoning 4. Bayesian Epistemology. Actual timestampes and chapters are: 00:00 - Introduction to this podcast 02:55 Epistemology

Ep 197: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 1: Introduction Sep 10, 2023 5100 This episode is an introduction to the chapter. Although there are some readings, they are limited and I provide context by diving deep into David's more recent work on all this. Specifically we go through the connection of Chapter 10 here (published in 1997) and Chapter 5 "The Reality of Abstractions" from "The Beginning of Infinity" (published in 2011) and then also in light of David's recent sp

Ep 196: The Mother Military Aug 29, 2023 2588 Commentary (and Explainer) This podcast is largely an op-ed about the "feminisation" of Western militaries and the effect of so-called "diversity, equity and inclusion" ideologies on modern defence forces. I look at what the purpose of a military is and the tension between its aims and the ways some arms of some defence forces are "marketing" themselves to their own people. Of chief concern to som

Ep 195: Knowledge, Wealth and Constructors Aug 23, 2023 2111 Very brief readings from and lengthy reflections upon David Deutsch's paper "The Philosophy of Constructor Theory" published here https://link.springer.com/article/10.... and available in full here: https://www.constructortheory.org/por... #physics #knowledge #philosophy #epistemology #daviddeutsch #science Also available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCx2Com7LU Discuss this or an

Ep 194: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 9 ”Quantum Computers” Part 4: Shor’s Algorithm Jul 26, 2023 5642 This is a "return to regular format" episode in one respect - readings from and reflections upon "The Fabric of Reality" but also a departure from regular formatting in another respect: I teach a bunch of simple mathematics. This is for those who might think "quantum computation" and "quantum algorithms" will be forever beyond me. They are not! I begin with (quite literally) primary school mathema

Ep 193: Effortless Stoicism Jul 17, 2023 1548 I recommend the version found here that contains visuals and music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlvgxEBekP4 However the same message will come through on this audio only podcast. Full Credit for all ideas to: James (Jim) Pierce Naval and Nivi and David Deutsch With mistakes all my own See also James' website (and relevant article) here: https://www.james-pierce.com/writings/effortless-stoi

Ep 192: Where do ideas come from? Jun 28, 2023 3755 This is a cross-post from my Substack podcast "The 3Rs: Reality, Reason, Rationality" the text of which can be found here: https://bretthall.substack.com/p/where-do-ideas-come-from?sd=pf#details This diagram is also relevant:

Ep 191: Science News 2: Dark Matter, Fusion, JWST Latest Jun 16, 2023 2365 Science news from a "critical rational" perspective. No "believing" in explanations here, no time for instrumentalism and a focus on good explanations of the evidence. Introduction (epistemology in science): 00:00 Dark Matter: 04:32 Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND): 08:12 Statistical confidence in physics: 15:23 Instrumentalism in modern physics: 19:00 Fusion Power 'News': 22:09 "Spinoffs" from

Ep 190: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 9 ”Quantum Computers” Part3 Jun 13, 2023 2082 Here in this second-to-last episode on the discussion of Chapter 9 from the Fabric of Reality we discuss some of the key distinctions between the classical and quantum - the philosophical and scientific implications and then some of the current experimental approaches to (and reporting on) the actual engineering of these devices.

Ep 189: Epiphenomena Apr 26, 2023 1093 This serves as "part 2" of my "Are Consciousness and Creativity the same thing?" podcast, the Youtube version of which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrjY4fR-qMU

Ep 188: Nick Bostrom on AI on ”Talk TV” - analysis Apr 21, 2023 2455 This podcast was originally produced on Airchat: https://www.getairchat.com/bretthall/bretthall It is all about an interview that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fv4Uz_i1iQ

Ep 187: Red Pens and Fallibilism Apr 14, 2023 1433 This podcast episode is based around two sets of chits (two "chats") found on airchat at https://www.getairchat.com/bretthall/bretthall?t=440630 The articles associated with these chits and in the latter case many links are here: https://www.bretthall.org/blog/the-white-swan-and-red-pen and here: https://www.bretthall.org/blog/the-problem-with-fallibilism

Ep 186: Brett, Naval and more on AI & AGI Apr 8, 2023 5637 The latest on the philosophy, science and technology of AI and AGI. ChatGPT, Deep Learning, Neural Networks and Large Language Models (LLMs). What do we know? Where is it going?

Ep 185: Possibility and Actuality. Facts and Counterfactuals. Mar 31, 2023 3675 Sam Harris and Lex Fridman vs The Multiverse and Constructor Theory. Although this is a reaction video, it's just 10 minutes of Sam with the rest of the time spent me doing some analysis, dissection and "what went wrong" reflection as a vehicle for explaining certain parts of physics and philosophy.

Ep 184: ToKCast Digest - An Overview of Optimism Mar 29, 2023 4867 Everything that we’ve covered on ToKCast so far for those in a hurry or those wanting a refresher. It’s the synecdoche episode. 183 episodes down and David Deutsch has spoken with Naval Ravikant and Tim Ferris, and so begins another cohort of people - a new generation if you like - of people coming to optimism in Deutsch's sense and the infinite potential of people and explanatory knowledge. I beg

Ep 183: St George in retirement syndrome on St Patrick’s day. Mar 21, 2023 3690 What is "St George in retirement" syndrome? This and much more in another random livestream about all sorts.

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